Richard Bergenheim, former editor of Christian Science Monitor; at 60
Richard Bergenheim, former editor of The Christian Science Monitor and president of the The First Church of Christ, Scientist, died Sunday morning in Kansas City. He was 60.
Mr. Bergenheim had been on a tour of churches since July 8 to discuss the future of the Monitor and other Christian Science periodicals. His wife, Phebe, found him unresponsive in their hotel room, family members said.
"Whatever he went into, he put his heart and soul into it," said his brother Roger of Medfield. "He was a man of principles. If it wasn't the right way, he didn't do it."
Mr. Bergenheim was remembered as a compassionate, devout Christian Scientist who led the Monitor during one of the most dramatic episodes in the Boston-based paper's history, the kidnapping of correspondent Jill Carroll in Baghdad by insurgents in January 2006.
"He was always solid and kept his center of gravity," said the Monitor's managing editor, Marshall Ingwerson.
Mr. Bergenheim, who had served as editor for three years until earlier this year, worked with FBI agents and other officials for Carroll's release. She was held for almost three months, and her Iraqi interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, was killed during her abduction.
Carroll had been a freelancer at the time of her capture, and Mr. Bergenheim had immediately placed her on staff so she could receive benefits. "It was a very humane idea, and it was his idea," Ingwerson said.
When Carroll returned to the United States in April 2006, Mr. Bergenheim was one of the first to greet her with a hug at Logan Airport.
As editor, Mr. Bergenheim also forged the Monitor's future on the Internet.
"He was very active, very aggressive in pursuing innovations," Ingwerson said. "He was always a deep believer that the Web is the future."
He handed the Monitor's reins to John Yemma, who took over this month, and was editor-at-large for the paper when he died. On Friday, he was talking with editors about improving security for the paper's Baghdad bureau, Ingwerson said.
Known for a wry sense of humor, he signed his most recent e-mails to staff with the farewell, "Yours with suitcase in hand."
Mr. Bergenheim, who was a member of the church's Board of Directors from 1992 to 1994, came from a publishing family.
His father, Robert C. Bergenheim, founded the Boston Business Journal and was publisher of the Boston Herald American. The elder Bergenheim had covered Boston City Hall for the Monitor in the 1950s and was later manager of The Christian Science Publishing Society.
Mr. Bergenheim's father and mother, Elizabeth, who live in Naples, Fla., said they were in shock.
"There was no indication of anything as serious that he would pass on from it," his father said. "He seemed to be in perfect health."
As the oldest of seven, Mr. Bergenheim was always a polite, intense person, according to his father.
He graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Ill., in 1970 and earned a master's degree from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham in England. He had been a practitioner of Christian Science healing since 1974.
"I admired him and appreciated his teachings very much," his father said.
Christian Science was always at the core of Mr. Bergenheim's world. "It was his life," his brother said. "We all grew up as Christian Scientists, and he decided to devote his life to it."
In a statement, the church's Board of Directors said: "There aren't words to express the gratitude of the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees of the Christian Science Publishing Society for all that Richard has given over the years to his Church. Richard has been a friend and mentor to many of us and we will miss him greatly."
In addition to his parents, wife, and brother, Mr. Bergenheim leaves three brothers, Robert Jr. of Pooler, Ga., Ron of Boston, and Michael of Berlin; and two sisters, Kristine of Carlisle and Carol Chin of New York. 